RCL and MCC in new intra-Asia slot exchange

Thailand-based Regional Container Lines (RCL) announced a new slot exchange deal with MCC Transport on the Thailand/Vietnam-Hong Kong trade route that begins in the middle of this month.

RCL said it will provide MCC Transport, a regional specialist handling all intra-Asia containerized cargo for A.P. Moller-Maersk, with slots on its RBS service from Hong Kong to the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) and Laem Chabang in Thailand.

MCC in turn will provide RCL slots on its IA7 service from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

The slot exchange starts on May 16.

An RCL company statement said: “This exchange is a win-win scenario for both RCL and MCC. We have recently adjusted our RBS schedule by dropping Ho Chi Minh while adding PAT.”

It added that the arrangement will provide customers of its RBS service with the same Hong Kong-Ho Chi Minh service using MCC’s IA7 for “a direct and fast transit as well.”